


Family business

by RocioWrites



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-05
Updated: 2014-08-05
Packaged: 2018-02-11 20:00:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2081241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RocioWrites/pseuds/RocioWrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[Minor character death and vomit TW] AU - Rin decides to trust, <em>just trust Aiichiro</em>. He has saved his sorry ass. <em>Trust</em>. That’s what his life depends on right now, he can feel it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family business

**Author's Note:**

> Kind of Mob / Mafia AU.  
> The rintori interactions can be read as friendship and/or pre-slash, you decide.
> 
> Minor character death and vomit TW. Nothing too graphic though.

The silence is dense and thick, palpable and electrified. As if a simple word could break it so easily and make such a mess out of them,  _out of him_. Even though it feels like he’s already messed up.

Rin’s panting hard, head throbbing with a stabbing headache and hands trembling, his chest aches with an uncontrollable sickening warmth. He sucks in a breath watching his roommate who now looks like a complete stranger to him, crystal blue eyes cold and dead, unforgiving. It makes him want to puke and run, hide away from this weird nightmare. That’s not the sweet boy he met, those hands holding a gun up are not the hands that help him out of the pool now and then, that stance full of authoritative confidence is not the stance of his cheerful friend.

The kidnapper’s blood splashed on him burns his skin, his quivering request for something to clean himself up gets stuck in his throat and all he manages to utter is a broken wailing sound. It’s pathetic.  _He_  feels pathetic and scared and how the hell is he supposed to clean those blood stains from his clothes now?

"Don’t cry." One of the men says, toneless and bored.

But thanks to that he notices he is, in fact, crying. Hot, bold tears are falling from his eyes.

Rin is scared but he can’t make up his mind enough to actually understand what has him crying like this. Is it because he was about to be killed by a lowlife kidnapper who had nothing on him? Is it because he’s going to live after all – and he feels relieved? Is it because Aiichiro is standing in front of him, lips in a thin line, unreadable eyes, holding a gun with such a practiced ease that it’s disconcerting?

Maybe it’s all of the above, who knows?

Right now, all he knows is that he was about to die and Aiichiro saved him.  _Killing another person_.  _To save him_. And that’s so messed up he can’t take it. Falling to his knees, he hears a soft chuckle to his left where the other man is, he’s dressed like a police officer but his sharp eyes and his unceremoniously lack of tact make it obvious he isn’t a man of law.

"It’s okay." Aiichiro whispers only at him, finally lowering the gun. The kidnapper’s body is half meter away from him, a hole in the middle of the forehead. It smells like blood and gunpowder and his stomach protests loudly although neither of the other three seems to mind.

"The hell it is!" He screams, voice rough and full of despair.

"It will be, kid." The serious-faced man adds, but he’s looking at Aiichiro waiting for something.

 _Instructions_.

And that realization must hurt worse than having seen his innocent roommate shoot someone because he’s emptying his stomach, vomit mixing with the blood on the floor. It’s disgusting and sad and his chest hurts – he might pass out at this rhythm.

"Take care of everything please." It’s the last thing he hears before everything becomes a blur of movement, colors and feelings of being sick and about to puke some more.

*

When he wakes up he’s back at the dorms, his mattress feels unbelievably comfortable under his weight. His throat aches – probably due to the puking. And there’s still this sickening feeling in his chest that makes it all the more real.

A hand comes up to block out the light, closing his eyes under the pain that shoots towards his temple.

It wasn’t a dream. Even if it feels like that, it wasn’t a dream. It couldn’t be, because his body is tense and ready to fight or die defending himself – at the same time, his body feels too heavy to even attempt to move.

Peeking through his fingers, Rin inspects the room. It’s exactly as it always has been. Aiichiro’s bunk bed above, Aiichiro’s desk a complete mess, some clothes failing from the closet—

He sits up immediately, only to find that he’s already dressed in his pjs. No trace of blood anywhere. However, such a sudden movement is a bad idea in his state – which state though, he wonders – and his body lets him know so. His stomach growls and protests and he feels liquid coming up to his throat, he gags but he has nothing solid to vomit. His head is about to explode and the light is too bright right now to bear with it.

He slowly lies back down again, sighing and covering his eyes once more. It wasn’t a dream, was it?

It couldn’t be. Not when he feels this sick, not when he can still see in his mind that appalling Aiichiro pressing the trigger.

And thanks to that he is alive. But it feels like that wasn’t Aiichiro,  _his_ Aiichiro at all – what with the unswerving cold eyes, with the way the boy hadn’t reacted at all as if it all was some common business-like thing.

There were also those other guys, who barged in and helped them. Who were dressed as police officers and no, they weren’t really policemen, they were just pretending. But why?

So many things happened so quickly, he can’t think straight, he can’t comprehend anything.

Rin wants to get up and look for Mikoshiba and the others – a sense of dread pooling deep inside him. They were rescued too, right? By those fake policemen, surely. Are they safe though?

He forces himself to keep breathing calmly, thinking this hard is making him dizzy and his headache is too painful to worsen it. He convinces himself they’re all safe now, Mikoshiba, Yamato, that brat of Momoshiro and the rest.

He convinces himself that Aiichiro is safe too.

Even after he killed a man. Cold-bloodedly.

Laughter bubbles up from somewhere low in his throat, dry and bitter. A sarcastic laugh that tastes like he wants to cry. It was a dream, definitely. It must have been. Rin thinks of the way Aiichiro’s hand took the gun, firmly, without hesitation; his index finger going automatically to the trigger, pressing lightly. Aiichiro didn’t even say a thing, he didn’t threatened the kidnapper, nothing. Rin didn’t think of anything, couldn’t think of anything at the moment. And he blinked, a loud gunshot forcing him to open his eyes to see thick red blood flying.

It was a quick thing, something done meticulously. And yet Rin felt like the time stood still, preventing him from processing what was happening. Aiichiro looked so impassive, so expressionless that even Haruka would be envious.

He wants to cry his eyes out and make all those images burned into his mind disappear once and for all. Aiichiro is not like that, he wouldn’t hurt anyone, he wouldn’t be so heartless as to shoot someone so coldly.

But he did. Right in front of him, of those two men who were there to help them. Aiichiro did and saved his ass, Rin muses.

“You’re awake.” Aiichiro’s voice takes him by surprise and he debates with himself for a few seconds, concluding that feigning sleep won’t be of any help.

“Yeah.” He answers, tone raspy thanks to his sore throat. Rin pictures Aiichiro standing in the middle of the room, watching him with worried, huge eyes. But he can’t bring himself to look in case that his Aiichiro has become someone he doesn’t recognize.

“I brought you something for your stomach.” He sounds as usual, a tint of concern and nothing else.

Rin doesn’t move and neither does Aiichiro by the lack of footsteps.

There are so many questions he wants to ask, so many things he can’t put into words. How did all this happen? Why? Why did he—?  _Was it really a dream?_

“Thanks.” He says instead, and wearily moves to a sitting position to take the offered glass of water along with a big yellow pill. Pausing a moment to examine it, doubt arises from some dark place in the back of his brain. He looks at the other, looking for confirmation, comfort or just plain rejection in those clear blue eyes.

Rin only sees distress there. And a flash of understanding moments later, since Rin's doubt is more than valid after all that has happened.

Aiichiro gives him a small reassuring smile and Rin decides to trust,  _just trust Aiichiro_. He has saved his sorry ass.

“Is everyone okay?”

“Yes. The police took their statements and that was it.”

The lie is evident. Aiichiro doesn’t even try to make it believable enough,  _Rin knows too much_  – that is what his tender yet demanding tone is conveying.

He ponders a minute if he should ask about the kidnapper that got shot. He decides against it and swallows the pill instead.  _Trust_. That’s what his life depends on right now, he can feel it. In his memory, the low chuckle that guy released sounds loud and clear like something more powerful than a threat.

_Can I know?_

_Should I?_

“Are you okay?” Aiichiro asks while he takes the glass back and leaves it on the bedside table.

It feels like it’s afternoon, he can’t remember what day it should be. The dorm has a silent vibe; if he should take a guess, he would say that it is because ten guys from the swim team were kidnapped the day before.

He thinks about it. Is he? How does he feel?

His body needs to rest, but physically he will be fine. Mentally now…

“Yes.” A pause. “I think so.”  Aiichiro sits next to him on the bed, a hand coming to rest somewhere on his outstretched left leg but he stops himself, hand staying still in mid-air.  _Trust_. “No.”

He gets a sad smile.

“You will be.” It suspiciously sounds like a promise.

*

They’re excused of going to classes, but the appointments with Samezuka’s psychologist are obligatory. Rin doesn’t talk much and avoids the woman’s eyes, all the while wondering how the others manage with the counseling.

Sometimes when he’s jogging, he spaces out and toys with the idea of telling everyone that Aiichiro killed someone if only to get a reaction out of him.

Things are crumbling for him and everyone else seems pretty okay with everything.

He skips a few classes, mostly English. Aiichiro, on the other hand, acts normal when he’s surrounded by other people – like a well practiced act. The kid doesn’t skip any classes, and Rin has a feeling that he does so to not be left alone with him for more than necessary.

Mikoshiba takes it in strides and is his old self after a day of being locked in his own room. The other guys follow suit after a few talks with the psychologist and with each other.

Makoto and Nagisa call him constantly to make sure he’s fine. Rei sends him e-mails asking for advice with his swimming in a poor attempt of checking on him without being overwhelming and Haruka plays hard to get as usual, showing all his worry occasionally under the right circumstances. He makes a show of it, because Rin is  _fine_  –  _he is strong_.

Rin wants to corner Aiichiro and make him talk, ask him what is really going on, why things are the same but so different in equal measures, why life keeps moving forward for them without a reasonable explanation.

Because it still feels like a dream.

*

 _Trust_ , he tells himself.

“So none of the others saw you.” Rin starts the conversation like this. He can see Aiichiro tense and relax his muscles immediately after. “I need to talk about this.” He begs.

And even if begging is something he doesn’t do often, now his voice is betraying him. He can’t deal with this false normalcy, the image of sharp clear blue eyes ambushing him in his sleep.

“Okay.”

_Can I know? Should I?_

Aiichiro spins around on his desk chair, eyes looking right through him – like a hunter pinning down his prey. It’s been two weeks now and the idea of continuing silent about it makes Rin’s stomach do somersaults.

“The others don’t know.”  _About you shooting our kidnapper, about you saving me._

“No. They weren’t there and I wasn’t about to tell them either.”

The way the answer is so precise and calm reminds Rin of how he felt – so lost and helpless, as if Aiichiro could crush him with just his words and eyes. _Trust_. But he can’t when the Aiichiro in front of him talking so quietly doesn’t look anything at all like his Aiichiro. The feeling of the boy having his life in his hands is there, tricky enough this is the time he feels it the most.

“Who were those guys?”  _What did they want? Who were the ones who helped us?_

_Who are you?_

Aiichiro looks down, exhausted for a moment. There’s no way he can read his mind. Nonetheless, his lack of emotion makes Rin believe he knows exactly what he’s thinking. But he can’t go and ask who Aiichiro really is.

“Ask me what you really want to know. I’m not here to pamper you. If you want me to lie, you better make up a nice story and convince yourself.” Rin sucks in a breath, astonished, paralyzed by the sudden rash comeback. He backs as far as he can against the wall, shrinking into himself. Aiichiro’s eyes widen too, surprised with himself. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to snap at you.”

He would never have thought that he would be afraid of Aiichiro. Not afraid of Aiichiro, he corrects himself. He’s afraid of all the things about Aiichiro he doesn’t know. And how the well-made mask the kid has been using for so long could have been still in place if not for one little reckless act from a lowlife criminal.

Yes, he would have bought right into the fake policemen lies, believing things he hasn’t heard yet because he’s not brave enough to ask the others or to bring up the issue with anyone.

Things come crumbling down for him and he can’t trust, he just can’t.

“Who are you?” He finally asks, voice barely above a hushed whisper. And as soon as those words are out there in the open, he can’t stop himself from bleeding out all those other questions he’s been asking himself in the dark night. “Who are you? What happened to you? Where is he? The Aiichiro I know and I like. Why? Why did all that have to happen to us? Where did you learn to use a gun? To kill so ruthlessly? I just—“ He cuts himself off since Aiichiro’s eyes are ordering him to do so.

 _Shut me up with answers_ , Rin prays.

Aiichiro has none.

Rephrasing that, Aiichiro has answers. It’s just that Rin isn’t ready for them.

He corners himself, trying his best to glare at the other. And it’s funny how Aiichiro is composedly sitting there still looking more in control of the situation than Rin. He wants to yell as loud as his lungs and throat allow him to threw Aiichiro off, to break such calmness. It’s annoying and a bit terrifying. Where is the Aiichiro he likes?

“My father is an important man. And there are people out there after my family and our business.”

“Business you say.” Rin laughs bitterly.  _He knows too much_.

It all feels so out of place, even a worse nightmare than that day. His stomach is merely a pulsing knot by now. He’s despairingly lost.

“You already know it, senpai. Why keep asking then?”

“I just…”  _I’m not grateful. I should’ve died that day. I want the old Aiichiro back because now I can’t stop seeing the real one._

“Calm down. If you don’t say anything, you’ll be safe. We may be ruthless but we don’t kill highschoolers for funsies.” And it sounds so  _different_ from his Aiichiro, so cold, so effortlessly in control that he can’t take it.

Rin’s knees give out and he falls to the ground, hands catching his weight. He’s not crying this time around and he won’t puke. But he feels as sick as that day.

“Calm down.” Aiichiro repeats, and this time the worried tone is back, more like the usual Aiichiro Rin likes.

He feels like a plaything. Has Aiichiro been playing with him? Because what else has a mafia kid to do with an ordinary angsty cry-baby teen like him? Has he been laughing at his petty argument against his childhood friends?

 _Such a dramatic asshole_ , he admonishes himself. This isn’t the Aiichiro he knows, but this isn’t the Rin he knows either.

“Okay.” He rasps out, swallowing against the lump in his throat. “Okay. I’m okay.” He chants. “I don’t care.”

“Good.” Aiichiro replies, almost as cheerful as ever. “I wouldn’t want senpai to look down on me like that.” He  _is_  playing.

Rin stands up, a rush of unwanted adrenaline running through his veins. He smirks – Aiichiro has become such a little shit right in front of his eyes.

The wall supports most of his weight and he can’t look away, crystal blue clashes unceremoniously against red. This is were it ends, most likely. Rin has his answers, ready or not  _he knows for sure now_. And he won’t say it but he is grateful after all, just this once he will hide important information from the good guys.

“Are you going to be part of your  _family business_  once you graduate?”

Aiichiro only nods, hiding his smile. 

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this prompt: "AU with yandere!Nitori where he’s the only son of an important mafia boss and gets kidnapped along with other kids from Samezuka (Rin + Mikoshiba and others when they went all out together as a bonding excercise maybe?) and when his bodyguards come to the rescue he takes matters in his own hand when one of the kidnappers tries to shield himself behind Rin and Nitori sees red, killing him without thinking it twice. Awkward aftermath where Nitori has to explain to Rin who he really is and that he’s been trained to kill and protect himself."
> 
> It was posted on the #rintori tag by teamswimmingdorks tumblr user but it seems they've deleted their blog.


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